Matt Simon | An Island Press author

Matt Simon

Matt Simon has been a science journalist at Wired magazine for nine years. He covers a range of beats, including biology, robotics, climate change, and of course, microplastic pollution. He is the creator of Wired’s Absurd Creature of the Week column, which ran from September 2013 to March 2016. This later turned into the weekly web video series Absurd Creatures, which was then adapted into the hit Netflix series Absurd Planet, which premiered in April 2020. Matt is the author of two previous books. The Wasp That Brainwashed the Caterpillar: Evolution's Most Unbelievable Solutions to Life's Biggest Problems, which cataloged the strangest creatures on Earth, won an Alex Award in 2017. This inspired his second book, Plight of the Living Dead: What Real-Life Zombies Reveal About Our World—and Ourselves, which dove deep into the science of how parasites mind-control their hosts, published in 2018.
 
 

Moving from Personal Responsibility to Corporate Accountability: Plastics vs Public Health

Thursday, September 28, 2023 - 1:00pm EDT
Plastic is everywhere. The air we breathe, the foods we eat, the homes we live in, and the bodies we occupy are filled with micro- and nanoplastics. As plastic continues breaking down into tinier pieces, it infiltrates every element of our world. How is this toxin affecting our bodies and the bodies of our children?

The Not So “Micro” Plastic Problem. A conversation with Matt Simon, author of “A Poison Like No Other: How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies”

Wednesday, September 27, 2023 - 12:00pm AKDT
For September’s CHE-Alaska webinar, we will be joined by science journalist Matt Simon, author of “A Poison Like No Other: How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies.” In the book, Simon reveals an entirely new dimension to the plastic dilemma – how microplastics break down into small enough pieces to enter lungs, be absorbed by crops, and infiltrate aquatic animals’ muscle tissues.  Unlike other contaminants that are single elements or have simple chemical structures, micropla

[Livable Future LIVE] How Microplastics Affect Our Health & Environment

Wednesday, June 21, 2023 - 3:00pm EDT
Microplastics are tiny particles of plastic that are increasingly found in our soil, water, wildlife and the food we eat. In fact, studies have shown that we may be consuming about a credit card’s worth of plastic each week. The full health impacts of microplastics on humans and wildlife are still being studied, but we know that many plastics contain toxic chemicals.